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Letter: NAACP should wake up and see what really matters

The NAACP holds its convention in Baltimore today. How fitting that the meeting is in a city notorious for gang violence. Their vision statement is to ensure a society in which all individuals have equal rights without discrimination based on race. Where is their sense of urgency for the most fundamental purpose of their being? I speak of the physical safety of inner-city African-Americans who live in daily fear of their lives from terrorizing gangs.

Law-abiding, hardworking, taxpaying contributors to American society have equal rights under the Declaration of Independence. What could possibly be more important to the organization than the loudest and strongest support for law enforcement? Yes, there are bad cops and a few bad police departments. Focus on the 99-plus percent who put their lives on the line every day protecting African-Americans. Has it ever occurred to the NAACP that black lives matter?

Secondly, K-12 education. The NAACP is on record opposing charter school expansion. Charters aren’t perfect, but look at the enrollment numbers. Los Angeles, more than 160,000; New York City almost 100,000; Chicago, Philadelphia and Detroit close to 75,000. The number of charters in New York City has more than quadrupled since 2008. Here in Buffalo more than 20 percent of public school students attend charters. Seven hundred thousand African-American families have chosen charters.

Dr. Wyatt Tee Walker, closest aide and chief of staff for Dr. Martin Luther King who became “field general” under King during the Birmingham civil rights campaign from 1960 to 1964, is on record as emphatically agreeing that King would enthusiastically support charters. Three guesses as to which group of students makes up the majority of charter wait lists?